Apparatus for handling sheets of paper



MalCh 17, 1959 J. K. RUSSELL ErAL 2,878,016

APPARATUS FORJ-IANDLING SHEETS OF PAPER Filed Aug. 27'. 1956 @was HEBER?l Jrmfmsm :1min

United States Patent O APPARATUS Fon HANDLING SHEETS or PAPER .lohn K.Russell and Walter W. Boggs, Los Angeles, Calif., assignors toLuber-Finer Incorporated, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation ofCalifornia Application August 27, 1956, Serial No. 606,497

4 Claims. (Cl. 271-11) This invention relates to the handling of sheetmaterial and in particular to an apparatus for separating individualsheets of material such as paper or the like from a stack of sheets forfeeding the individual sheets into associated apparatus.

Conventional vacuum feeds for feeding single sheets of paper and thelike to a printing press do not operate satisfactorily when used withlow grade paper such as newsprint. The low grade papers have numerousporous spots therein which cause the vacuum feed wheels and the like tooften feed two and three sheets together into the press when only onesheet is intended. Therefore, it is desirable to supply only one sheetat a time to the feed mechanism which moves the sheet to the press orother apparatus.

It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus which willhandle sheet material, especially low quality sheet material which maybe quite porous and irregular in form, such as used newsprint which iseven more diiiicult to handle than fresh newsprint.

It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus which willcyclically and automatically separate single sheets of material from astack of sheets. A further object of the invention is to provide such anapparatus which is automatically operated without requiring the use ofgears, cams or similar mechanisms.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus forhandling sheets of material in which the lifting mechanism is forcedagainst the top sheet of the stack by a spring or by gravity, therebyclosing off a vacuum nozzle in the lifting mechanism so that the nozzleand the sheet which closesv it are moved away from the stack of sheetsagainst the action of the spring or gravity. Another object of theinvention is to provide apparatus for moving the lifted sheet from thenozzle to permit the nozzle to again be forced toward the stack ofsheets for continuous repetition of the lifting operation.

It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus forlifting sheets of material from a stack of sheets having a needlepositioned adjacent the vacuum nozzle with the point of the needlepiercing the top sheets of the stack and thereby restraining motion ofthe sheets away from the stack, such restraining action resulting inseparation of the top sheet which is moved up past the point onto thebody of the needle.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus forhandling sheets of material including means for directing a stream ofair at the edge of the stack between the lifted top sheet and theremainder of the stack to separate all of the top sheets from the stack.Another object of the invention is to provide such an apparatusincluding a continuously rotating vacuum feed wheel which pulls theseparated sheet from thenozzle and moves it away from the stack.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novelcombinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear inthe course of the following description. The drawing merely shows and2,878,016 Patented Mar. 17, 1959 2 the description merely describespreferred embodiments of the present invention Awhich are given by wayof illustration or example.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is an end view -of the preferred embodiment of the invention withportions of the main frame of the apparatus omitted; v

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. l showingthe embodiment of Fig. 1 with a stack of sheets of material positionedthereunder;

Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view showing an alternative form of theneedles of the embodiment of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a partial sectionalview showing an alternative form of thenozzle of Fig. 2.

The embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing includes a mainframe 10, a nozzle mount 11, needle carriers 12 and 13, an air line 14,a feed wheel 15 and a table 16. A stack 17 of sheet material, such asused newsprint or the like, is supported on the table 16 with the nozzlemount 11 and needle carriers 12, 13 preferably positioned adjacent anedge of the stack.

The nozzle mountvll may include a length of tubing 20 lixed in the frame10 with a second length of tubing 21 telescopingly mounted thereon sothat the second length'of tubing 21 may be retracted and extendedrelative to the length of tubing 20. Opposed, axially extending guideslots 22, 23 in the tubing 21 engage guide pins 24, 25 respectively,screwed into the tubing 20 to limit the relative movement of the tubingsboth axially and in rotation. An adjustable collarf26'is positioned onthe tubing 20 by a set screw 27 to provide an adjustment for the upperlimit of movement of the tubing 21 relative to the tubing 20..

The lower end 30, which is the nozzle or open end of the tubing 21, ispreferably somewhat attened to provide an opening of lessercross-section area than the body of the tubing andto'provide a longerline of contact between the open end and a sheet of material. A washer31 is positioned around the outer tubing 21, movement of the washerdownward along the tubing being blocked by the flaring of the tubingproduced in the attening operation.` .A spring 32 is positioned aroundthe tubing 21 with the ends of the spring resting against the guide pins24, 25 and the washer 31 respectively, the spring being compressed wheninstalled so as to urge the open end 30 of the outer tubing 21 downwardto the position shown in Fig. l.v

The needle carriers 12 and13 are identical in construction and thecarrier 12 will be described herein. A tube 35 has one end xed in themain frame 10` and a collar 36 ixed to the other end. A plug 37 isslidably positioned within the collar 36 with a needle 38 being set inthe plug 37 and held in place by a set screw 39. A spring 40 (Fig. 3) ispositioned within the tube 35 with one end resting against the plug 37and the other end against a pin 41 xed in the tube 35. The two needlecarriers 12, 13 are preferably positioned on each side of the nozzle 30with the axes of the needles 38 parallel to the line of movement of thetubing 21 along the tubing 20.

An alternative form for the needles 38 of Fig. 1 is shown in Fig. 3,wherein a needle 45 has a pointed end section 46 with a narrow taper, ashort intermediate section 47 "as viewed in Fig. 2. The wheel isbasically cylindrical in shape with a plurality of radial passages 56connecting with the hollow shaft 54 through a port 57.

In the operation of the apparatus of the invention for cyclic andautomatic removal of the top sheet of material from the stack of sheets,a vacuum-is applied to the tubing 20 at the upper end thereof to provideair ow in the direction of the arrow 60. The table bearing the stack-ofsheets isv positioned under the'nozzle mount so that the open end 30 ofthe tubing 21 rests on thetop sheet of the stack, the nozzle being thenin a position as shown in dashed line in Fig. 2. The open end of thenozzle is closed by contact with the stack of material and the vacuumproduces a lifting force which counteracts the force of tne spring andraises the tubing 21 to the position shown in solid lines in Fig. 2, theVacuum causing the top sheet of the material to be raised also, the topsheet being pulled up over the needles 38.

When the stack of material is placed under the nozzle' mount, the pointsof the needles will penetrate several sheets of the material and whenthe nozzle moves upward carrying the top sheet over the bodies of theneedles, the restraining force exerted by the points of the needles willprevent more than one sheet being raised. When two needles arepositioned on opposing sides of the nozzle as shown in Fig. l, a sheetof material will tend to bow upward at the center thereof and increasethe friction drag exerted by the needles. In certain applications of theapparatus, the additional restraining force exerted by the secondsection of the three section needle of Fig. 3 may be utilized to improvethe separating action.

Air under pressure is fed into the air line 14 in the direction of thearrow 61. The nozzle 52 connected to the air line is positioned at theedge of the stack adjacent the lifting nozzle 30 to direct an air streamalong the top of the stack slightly above the top as shown by the arrows62. After the vacuum mechanism has lifted the top sheet from the stackin the area of the contact of the sheet with the nozzle 30, the airblast from the nozzle 52 passes between the top sheet and the remainderof the stack and aid in separating the entire top sheet so that itiioats above the stack with the downstream edge of the sheet uttering.

The feed wheel 15 is rotated continuously in a counterclockwisedirection as viewed in Fig. 2 and a vacuum is applied to the hollowshaft 54 producing an air ilow through the port 57 and the lower radialpassages in the direction of the arrows 63. When the top sheet is raisedfrom the stack, a portion of the iloating sheet will contact the rim ofthe feed wheel 15 and be held in contact therewith by the vacuum. As thefeed wheel rotates, the sheet will be transported to the right as seenin Fig. 2, the shuttingv oft of the vacuumby the port causing the movingsheet to separate from the wheel when the end of the sheet passes thewheel. The force exerted by the wheel in moving the sheet to the rightwill tear the sheet from the needles and pull it from the open end ofthe vacuum nozzle. When the open end of the vacuum nozzle is again open,the lifting force due to the vacuum disappears and the nozzle is moveddownward into engagement with the new top sheet of the stack by theaction of the spring. Then the cycle of operation described above isrepeated. Thus it is seen that an automatic cyclic operation is obtainedwithout requiring mechanical reciprocation or indexing of elements orshutting otr' of pressures and vacuums.

It is not essential to the operation of the apparatus of the inventionthat the top sheet of the stack of sheets always be at the exact samelevel, since considerable movement is provided for the vacuum nozzle andthe needles are lightly spring loaded to compensate for variations inposition of the stack. However', when a large stack of sheets is beingfed to the apparatus,' it may be desirable to utilize a feed table suchas that used in printing presses in which the feed table is moved upwardas sheets of material are removed therefrom.v

The spring 32 may be omitted if desired and the force due to gravityrelied upon to move the vacuum nozzle downward into engagement with thetop sheet of the stack. However, it is preferable to utilize a springhaving alight force since more rapid action may be obtained in mostapplications of the invention. Of course, if the stack of sheets and theapparatus are tilted at an angle to the horizontal, the use of a springsuch as the spring 32 would be desirable because the force due togravity would then be negligible. Suchk rapid action is desirable, bothfrom an economic aspect an'd an operational point. If a new sheet isseparated from the stack as soon as the previous sheet leaves the feedwheel, there will be no opportunity for the force due to the vacuum ofthe feed wheel to lift more than one sheet.

It is desirable that a minimum force be exerted on the top sheet by thevacuum at the nozzle so that the force required to pull the sheet fromthe nozzle and needle is not excessive. Furthermore, if the force at thenozzle is too large, part of the top sheet will be rushed into thenozzle, or more thanY one sheet will be lifted. However, at the sametime, the force exerted at the nozzle must be Suthcient to compress thespring and lift the top sheet and the nozzle. The size and shape of thenozzle and the spring and the magnitude of the applied vacuum in anyparticular embodiment are correlated to produce the desired operation.

An alternative form of construction for the retractable nozzle of theinvention is shown in Fig. 4, wherein the nozzle 39 is coupled to thetubing 20 by a corregated spring bellows 70, the operation of thisembodiment being the same as that of the embodiment shown in Figs. l and2'.

Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been disclosed anddiscussed, it will be understood that other applications of theinvention are possible and that the embodiments disclosed may besubjected to various changes, modifications and substitutions withoutnecessarily departing from the spirit of the invention.

We claim as our invention:

l. In an apparatus for removing single sheets of material from a stackof sheets, the combination of: a moving nozzle having an open end; afixed nozzle mount, said nozzle being retractably carried on said mountfor movement between a position adjacent the stack of sheets to engageand separate the top sheet from the stack, and a raised position inwhich said sheet is engaged by a feed means; spring means engaging saidnozzle and said mount for urging said open end of said nozzle intocontact with the top sheet of the stack; means for applying a vacuum tosaid nozzle to move said nozzle relative to said mount against theurging of said spring means when said open end is closed by engagementwith a sheet of the material for separating the top sheet from thestack; feed means for removing said sheet from said raised nozzle,whereby said nozzle will automatically move toward and away from saidstack of sheets to continuously separate and raise the top sheet to beengaged and removed by said feeding means; and needle means carried bysaid mount for engaging the top sheets of the stack adjacent said openend of said nozzle, the movement of said nozzle along said mountimpaling the top sheet onto said needle means.

2. in an apparatus for removing single sheets of material from a stackof sheets, the combination of a moving nozzle having an open end; afixed nozzle mount, said nozzle being retractably carried ou said mountfor movement between a position adjacent the stack of sheets to engageandseparate the top sheet from the stack, and a raised position in whichsaid sheet is engaged by a feed means; spring means engaging said nozzleand said mount for urging said open end of said nozzle into contact withthe top sheet of the stack; means for applying a vacuum to said nozzleto move said nozzle relative to said mount against the urging of saidspring means when said open end is closed by engagement with a sheet ofthe material for separating the top sheet from the stack; feed means forremoving said sheet from said raised nozzle, whereby said nozzle willautomatically move toward and away from said stack of sheets tocontinuously separate and raise the top sheet to be engaged and removedby said feeding means; and needle means carried by said mount forengaging the top sheets of the stack adjacent said open end of saidnozzle, the movement of said nozzle relative to said mount impaling thetop sheet onto said needle means, said needle means including a needlemember having three sections, the rst section being pointed and having anarrow taper, the third section being of greater cross-section area thanthe rst section and having a narrow taper, and the second sectionjoining the first and the third sections and having a wide taper.

3. In an apparatus for removing single sheets of material from a stackof sheets, the combination of: a moving nozzle having an open end; a xednozzle mount, said nozzle being retractably carried on said mount formovement between a position on the stack of sheets adjacent an edgethereof to engage and separate the top sheet from the stack, and araised position in which said sheet is engaged by a feed means; springmeans engaging said nozzle and said mount for urging said open end otsaid nozzle into contact with the top sheet of the stack; means forapplying a vacuum to said nozzle to move said nozzle relative to saidmount against the urging of said spring means when said open end isclosed by engagement with a sheet of the material for separating the topsheet from the stack; feed means for removing said sheet from saidraised nozzle, whereby said nozzle will automatically move toward andaway from said stack of sheets to continuously separate and raise thetop sheet to be engaged and removed by said feeding means; needle meanscarried by said mount for engaging the top sheets of the stack adjacentsaid open end of said nozzle, the movement of said nozzle relative tosaid mount impaling the top sheet onto said needle means; and means fordirecting a stream of air toward the one edge of the stack and along thetop sheets thereof.

4. In an apparatus for continuously removing single sheets of materialfrom a stack of sheets, the combination of: a reciprocating nozzlehaving an open end; a fixed nozzle mount, said nozzle being retractablycarried on said mount for movement between a position on the stack ofsheets adjacent an edge thereof to engage and separate the top sheetfrom the stack, and a raised position in which said sheet is engaged bya feed means; spring means engaging said nozzle and said mount forurging said open end of said nozzle into contact with the top sheet ofthe stack; means for applying a vacuum to said nozzle to move saidnozzle relative to said mount against the urging of said spring meanswhen said open end is closed by engagement with a sheet of the material,said movement raising the top sheet from the stack; needle means carriedby said mount for engaging the top sheets of the stack adjacent saidopen end of said nozzle, the movement of said nozzle relative to saidmount impaling the top sheet onto said needle means; means for directinga stream of air toward the one edge of the stack between the raised topsheet and the remainder of the stack; and feed means for engaging thetop sheet when raised and pulling the raised top sheet from said needlemeans and said open end of said nozzle; the removal of the raised sheetfrom said nozzle permitting reciprocation of said nozzle to engage andraise the newly exposed top sheet for removal.

References Cited in the file of this patent

